Foreign News: Notes on Survival

A police dossier on Joseph Joanovici might read something like this:

"Born in 1905 in Kishinev in the Balkans, the son of Isaac and Zelta Haia, who were killed later that year in a pogrom. Aliases: Juanesky, Jouanneau, Joinov, Innovici, Joinou, Joseph Levy. Employment: ragpicker, scrap metal dealer, entrepreneur, double agent. Has been a citizen of Rumania and the Soviet Union, but now claims to be a stateless person. Wanted for swindling, nonpayment of taxes, contempt of court, illegal exit. Physical description: short, pudgy, grey-haired, looks vaguely like Alfred Hitchcock."

Mile-Long Queues. In 1927 Joseph Joanovici emerged from the obscurity of the Balkans...